Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| Afghani civilian death rate |
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| amatullah |
| 01/26/02 at 15:49:45 |
| Bismillah and salam from teh globe and mail PRINT EDITION Afghanistan civilian toll notably high Death rate four times higher than it was in bombing of Kosovo, Serbia, study says By MURRAY CAMPBELL Saturday, January 19, 2002 – Page A11 U.S. bombing in Afghanistan has killed civilians at a rate four times higher than the NATO bombardment of Kosovo and Serbia three years ago, a new study says. Half as many bombs were dropped in the campaign to drive the Taliban from power as in the effort to oust Slobodan Milosevic, but civilian casualties were higher because of an increased use of so-called dumb bombs, according to the Project on Defense Alternatives in Cambridge, Mass. The group estimates that more than 12,000 bombs were dropped over Afghanistan in 4,700 sorties between Oct. 7 and Dec. 10, and that between 1,000 and 1,300 civilians were killed. In contrast, the study says, NATO warplanes dropped 23,000 bombs in 13,000 sorties in the 78-day Yugoslavian campaign in 1999, which killed about 500 civilians. Carl Conetta, PDA co-director, said the death toll of civilians in Afghanistan contradicts the notion that the campaign has been cleaner than earlier missions. "Despite the adulation of Operation Enduring Freedom as a finely tuned or bull's-eye war, the campaign failed to set a new standard for accuracy," he said in an interview. Mr. Conetta said several factors contributed to the higher civilian casualty rate, including the mix of weapons used, the nature of intelligence sources and the campaign's objectives. As well, the decision to strike al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders in their houses meant the targeting of residential areas in which there was little margin for error. He said the Pentagon switched from precision, laser-guided bombs to munitions guided by a Global Positioning System. Though GPS bombs are much cheaper than laser-guided weapons, they are less accurate. They can also be used more reliably in all weather conditions, launched from greater distances and be dispensed in batches. Mr. Conetta said 40 per cent of the 12,000 bombs that hit Afghanistan were GPS-directed and 20 per cent were laser-guided. The remaining 40 per cent were unguided "dumb bombs" such as the 500-pound munitions dropped by B-52s. In the Kosovo campaign, he said, two-thirds of the bombs dropped by NATO forces were laser-guided and only one-third were unguided. As well, four 15,000-pound "daisy-cutter" bombs have been used in Afghanistan while none were used in the Balkans. Mr. Conetta suggested the Pentagon swapped accuracy for the sake of economy. In addition, he argued, the emphasis by planners on hitting "emerging targets," such as columns of Taliban fighters, led pilots to rely on dumb bombs that did not require crews to take the time to derive and input GPS co-ordinates or to train lasers on a target in order to guide bombs. He said Pentagon planners also relied on untrustworthy intelligence from Afghan sources that may have reflected local rivalries. Mr. Conetta said he believes the NATO campaign was different because a large number of nations were involved in planning and European nations were careful how they attacked Mr. Milosevic. "The European approach was 'we don't want to create a mess that we will be unable to clean up.' " |
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